Alastair Cook’s reign as full time England ODI skipper got off to a winning start as they crushed Sri Lanka by 110 runs in a rain affected encounter at the Oval. Cook himself did not contribute much, scoring a modest five, but quick fire knocks from Craig Kieswetter and Eoin Morgan gave England a competitive total to defend. In conditions assisting the bowlers, Sri Lanka had no answer to James Anderson and Graeme Swann as they folded for a little over 100.

Kieswetter top scored with 61 and was ably supported by Morgan (45) and Kevin Pietersen (26). Some lusty hitting from Tim Bresnan in the last couple of overs took the score over 200 and gave Sri Lanka a stiff target of 230 to chase in 32 overs.

Sri Lanka’s chase started on the worst possible note as James Anderson ripped through the top order. Anderson picked up three of Sri Lanka’s top four, while Sanath Jayasuriya, playing his last Sri Lankan innings, fell to his favourite cut shot off the bowling of Bresnan.

At 17/4, Sri Lanka were always going to find things tough and at one stage they were reduced to 69/8, sparking fears that the World Cup finalists would crumble for under 100. However Suraj Randiv and Lasith Malinga took them over the 100 mark, but they still fell a 110 runs short as they were eventually bowled out for 121.

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Posted on June 29th, 2011 by admin
Filed under: One Day Cricket